Bolt Increases Fare by 4% Due to Increase in Fuel Prices

Bolt company has increased its fares by 4 percent following the recent increase in fuel prices by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA).

The taxi-hailing firm was previously charging 26.90 shillings per kilometer. The 0.47 shillings fare increase per kilometer will increase the price to 27.37 per kilometer in Nairobi as the company works to review fares across other towns.

Bolt Eastern Africa Regional manager Kenneth Micah said the 4 percent increase is expected to hedge driver earnings on the platform against the 3.9 percent increase in fuel cost.

“We truly believe that happy drivers provide better quality service for customers. We’ve been doing extensive reviews to ensure that we continue to provide the best earnings for drivers on our platform and remain the most affordable and preferred platform by customers. Therefore, we have reviewed our pricing to reflect the current market realities,” he said.

Other Bolt categories that have similar increases in fare per kilometer include Bolt Base, Bolt Green and Bolt Women.

On the XL category, prices per kilometer will increase by 0.66 shillings.

The company has also increased the minimum fare for Lite category from 150 shillings to 180 shillings, and the start fare increased from 55 shillings to 70 shillings.

Bolt prices are expected to vary with the EPRA fuel price per town.

Last week, the Energy Petroleum and Regulatory Authority (EPRA) announced an increase in fuel prices where the cost of super petrol and diesel increased by 5 shillings. In contrast, the cost of kerosene remained unchanged.

The rise is attributed to the landed cost of imported Super Petrol which rose by 13.34 percent from 596.79 dollars to 676.40 dollars per cubic meter, and that of diesel rose by 11.7 percent from 606.16 dollars to 677.31 dollars per cubic meter.

Super petrol is currently retailing at 134.72 shillings per liter while diesel retailing at 115.60 shillings.

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Fuel prices have remained on a record high at the pump as the country struggles to beat the continuing increase in commodities prices majorly caused by the war between Russia and Ukraine.

According to the Central Bank of Kenya, global stocks of diesel and other middle distillates had fallen to the lowest seasonal level since 2008. During this period, similar shortages of these transport and industrial fuels helped propel oil prices to a record high due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

The government’s decision to increase fuel prices by 5 shillings made the Kenya Transporters Association (KTA) up to their transport rates by a minimum of 5 percent.

 KTA said that transporters’ margins could no longer sustain any increase in the costs, and regrettably, this cost will be passed on to the cargo owners for the road transport to survive.

“KTA wishes to advise transporters countrywide to increase their transport costs by a minimum of 5 percent to sustain their business under the current circumstances and circumvent a total collapse of their businesses,” the Board said.